Kombat
by VampireMileena
Summary: Worlds will Collide... a Smallville retelling of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
1. Notes

Category: Smallville/Mortal Kombat

Title: Kombat

Genre: Action/Fantasy - crossover

Rating: R. Graphic Violence, Horror, Supernatural Themes, Sexual References, Adult Themes and some Coarse Language

Disclaimer: SMALLVILLE and all related names, characters and elements are trademarks of DC Comics. MORTAL KOMBAT and all related names, characters and elements are trademarks of Netherrealm Studios.

Spoilers: Arctic, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe

Pairings: Clark/Mileena, Bizarro/Mileena, Bruce/Lois, Oliver/Dinah. Implied Mileena/Rain, Kitana/Jade and Sonya/Cage

Summary: A Smallville retelling of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.


	2. Prologue

Title: Kombat

Author: Chaotic Akasha

Genre: Action/Fantasy - crossover

Rating: R. Graphic Violence, Horror, Supernatural Themes, Sexual References, Adult Themes and some Coarse Language

Disclaimer: SMALLVILLE and all related names, characters and elements are trademarks of DC Comics. MORTAL KOMBAT and all related names, characters and elements are trademarks of Netherrealm Studios.

Warning: While most of, if not all of the adult fan fiction here is rated for its sexual content, this story is rated for violence. I am not bound by DC Comics like Midway were so I can be as violent as I like with the fatalities. If blood and gore make you squeamish, look away now because it is going to get mighty bloody. That said, the heroes of the DC Universe will not have fatalities because they don't kill people.

Spoilers: Arctic, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe

Pairings: Clark/Mileena, Bizarro/Mileena, Bruce/Lois, Oliver/Dinah. Implied Mileena/Rain, Kitana/Jade and Sonya/Cage

Summary: A Smallville retelling of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.

Prologue

_ 'I LIVE!' The being of stone and energy growled, raising its clenched fists into the air in a feeling of triumph that only survival of something horrible could bring but soon the feeling gave out to one of internal conflict. Something wasn't right here. Incomprehensible flashes of things that may or may not have passed fill the creature's mind at an alarming pace as it tries desperately to keep itself together._

_ From a plinth outside any known reality the creature watched as two seemingly identical worlds collided, the pain and rage growing within it like nothing felt before. There seemed to be a strange sort of pleasure in this despite the overwhelming sensations. It could feel its own feelings overtaking others and the instability that followed from the disappearances of some to the transposition of others. _

_ It could see in its minds eye the devastation wrought by the merger of not only the two worlds but itself and as awareness set in the creature saw it's chance to strike._

Mileena woke from what had been a fitful sleep, strands of sweat drenched ebony hair falling in front of her face. For a moment she had to look around to regain her bearings as she sat shivering in her bed. It was the third time in a week that she had had the same dream; two beings merging to create something much more fearsome than either could possibly be on their own.

One of them she knew all too well... Shao Kahn; the inter-dimensional conquerer who had usurped her father's throne, killed her mother and made her sister and her lover mindless assassins. The other, she had only begun to see since the dreams began. He was a behemoth that appeared almost to be chiselled roughly from rock. For all she could see, he was a menace of some description but it had never been all that clear to her.

Throwing back the ornately embroidered fuchsia and violet silk covers, Mileena climbed out of bed and pressed play on the expensive looking stereo on the other side of the room before rummaging through a draw for a packet of sandalwood incense for the cleansing ritual she performed every morning before she officially began her day.

In a smaller room adjacent to the small yet tastefully decorated bedroom an altar had been set up with a small golden dragon at the centre, an effigy she had hoped would serve as a connection to the Elder Gods, if only a remote connection. She lit the incense and placed it in the holder on the altar, kneeling on the soft throw pillows she had scattered to make her more comfortable.

Mileena closed her pale indigo eyes and began muttering a prayer under her breath in an unintelligible language when suddenly it hit her... An overwhelming crystal fortress and at its core two men, one with a look of determination and the other seemingly paralysed by fear. She recognised them both but couldn't put her finger on where or how she knew them. It wasn't important, all that mattered was what was occurring in the vision. Before her eyes the fortress crumbled and retracted around them while she was helpless to stop it.

Her eyes shot open in a mix of confusion and panic. Just who had shown her these things and more importantly, why. She had never been known for her ability to see the future before only to read minds, so exactly whose mind was she reading?

After showering quickly and dressing in the warmest thing she could find on such short notice a swirl of magenta lights and energy engulfed her, taking her to a vast icy plain. Almost as soon as she had appeared she saw them, with the nothingness of the place it was hard not to, two men lying unconscious in the fresh morning snow. One was bald and appeared to be slightly older than the other who, almost instantaneously, she remembered from a temple in China she had been asked to protect.

Cautiously she approached the two men, placing the large pentagonal crystal between them in her coat pocket for safe keeping then kneeling down beside the younger man she watched as the older one opened his eyes. 'Clark?' He asked hazily as he glanced over at his former best friend with a mystery woman. Shaking himself from his sleep but now painfully aware of the agony he was in, he reached out only for the woman and Clark to disappear.


	3. Chapter One

Chapter One

The faint afterthought of sandalwood and the hunger inducing aroma of Chinese food being cooked filled the air rousing Clark from what had been a three day long slumber. Before then he had come to briefly, babbling incoherently about how Lex knew everything and how he didn't want to be a mindless slave or a weapon for Lex to exploit. He took a moment to clear his thoughts as he realised he wasn't lying in the snow but in a homely apartment lying on some strange bed that wasn't his.

A few moments passed and the smell taunting Clark made him realise just how hungry he was. How long had it been since he'd eaten? He wondered before catching his own smell and wondering how long it had been since he'd bathed. He sat up only to feel a sudden thumping in the front of his head. For someone who rarely felt pain, this was definitely the worst he'd been in for a while. He could see little sparkly dots before his eyes and it hurt to have them open.

Suddenly he saw her, the woman who he could only assume this apartment belonged to. Almost instinctually she drew back the curtains that had been wide open which seemed to relieve the pain a little but nowhere near enough. She left the room for a moment and he heard a series of small clanking sounds from the kitchenette before she returned with a glass of water and a small bowl of rice.

Kneeling down in front of him, the strange woman placed a finger over Clark's lips before he could speak and he heard her explain softly. _'You need to drink. You've been in a coma for a little over a month and you're dehydrated.' _Well, that had certainly explained the migraine but why was he there and not dead? And if she was speaking to him, why weren't her lips moving? With a knowing smile she tapped her temple to signal that she had thought it before explaining wordlessly that she could read his thoughts as well as send him her own.

Part of Clark wanted to return to sleep, as frightening as it was, all this talk, or rather, thought of telepathy was making him dizzy then handing him the glass in her hand and setting the bowl in the other on the night-stand she gave a short nod and left the room. It puzzled Clark as to why a stranger would help him let alone let him stay in what he could only assume was her guest room but it was kind of nice being looked after. He slowly sipped the water and tried to piece together everything that had happened.

The last thing Clark remembered was Lex intruding on his Fortress of Solitude and raving like a lunatic about how he had loved him like a brother and how that had somehow given him the God given right to control him like a puppet.

He remembered being afraid for his own life but anything after that was a total blank until now with the blinding headache and the mysterious and exceedingly beautiful woman now playing nurse maid.

As Clark finished the glass of water he felt his headache begin to subside and hoping his legs hadn't atrophied, he endeavoured to return the glass to the kitchen. Cautiously he stood up and waited while he regained his balance then stiffly he made his way out of the guest room to an adjoined living area and kitchen where the woman was finishing up placing what he had been able to smell cooking into containers. 'I figured I would keep this for later. I know migraines can sometimes make your appetite go out the window.' Clark nodded, continuing his slow journey to the kitchen and cleaning out the glass before placing it on the rack with the other dishes.

There was something eerily familiar about all of this despite the fact that he had never been there before and they had never really met but still it felt right somehow. Reminded again by the fact that he hadn't bathed, Clark went to ask the woman where the bathroom is only not knowing her name stopped him in his tracks. 'I'm sorry, I don't know your name...' Clark conceded when he finally plucked up the courage to speak. Turning to face him and extending a hand she answered with a sweet smile. 'Mileena... And don't worry about introducing yourself, I know who you are Kal-El.'

Panic struck him at that very moment. How could she possibly know that name. Soon it dawned on him that he had probably thought it at some point and she had read his thoughts. 'Actually I knew before that but you should go and have a shower.' She replied without him even asking. Telepathy was definitely something he would never get used to...

A excruciating scream rang out throughout the vast wasteland that had once been a bastion of beauty and light. Normally this would not be anything out of the ordinary but for the fact that the scream appeared to come completely out of nowhere. A few of the Tarkatan who had camps set up nearby had come out of their hovels to investigate the scream, puzzled when they couldn't find anyone but after three days it ceased.

Almost a week passed when someone noticed a skinless body stumbling about, confused by its current predicament. In that time the strange occurrences in the wasteland had caught the attention of the emperor. He didn't like the growing feeling of unrest within the Tarkatan hordes and certainly didn't want an outsider to ruin the already tenuous truce he had made with them.

Days later a fully formed man appeared, naked and curled into a foetal position in an attempt to stop the pain of literally pulling himself together. His mind raced with memories of the girl he had only known a short time but remembered as if he'd known her his whole life. How could she do that to him after everything he had done for her? He had put her first where the Boy Scout had only thought of himself. _He_ had been there for her when the Boy Scout had been god knows where and yet Lana had been the one to kill him.

He shook as he remembered his flesh being ripped apart by the increase of power and the explosion that followed and the blinding pain that followed. Was he in hell, forced to relive this pain for all eternity? It was then that he saw them, small children with overly large smiles plastered across their faces. As they came closer to him he noticed that they had no lips that he could see and that the "smiles" he saw were large shark like fangs that almost took up their entire faces.

Whether male or female - and through the haze of fear that overtook him it all looked like much of a muchness - all of the children were bald, their eyes small, beady and yellow. They appeared to be covered in small bony spikes that culminated in blades that protruded from their arms.

The children stared at him curiously, one of them picking up a stone and throwing at his head then laughing almost maniacally with a high pitched but raspy cackle when the stone connected. Another child approached him cautiously and jabbed him with one of its blades, surprised when not even a scratch had been made. When the child clamped its fangs around his hand he grabbed it by its throat and lifted it high into the air, staring at it with a bewildered expression before tossing it aside nonchalantly.

He had to find some clothes, not that he really cared about whether he was naked or not but he wasn't really sure he liked the idea of little kids with swords on their arms trying to cut off his manhood. He took off like a shot, speeding through the camp in search of something to wear...

Clark returned to the guest bedroom of the apartment to find his clothes clean and folded neatly on the bed with a post-it note attached written in a bright purple pen. "Had work to do, food in fridge, make yourself at home... Mileena." Sticking the note to the night-stand Clark got dressed before returning to the kitchen. After pouring himself a cup of coffee that he assumed Mileena made while he showered he turned to see Lex staring back at him from the front page of The Daily Planet with the headline "LEX LUTHOR RETURNS" printed above it.

Taking a sip of coffee he sat down in front of the paper and examined the photo. Beaming with what felt to Clark like false pride Lex held a pair of novelty scissors in his hands in front of a red ribbon. In the corner of the photo was a logo that he was sure he had seen before and in that moment it occurred to Clark that Lex had begun to erase everything about his father.

He turned his focus from the picture, unable to look at his former friend's ersatz smile without the overwhelming need to vomit or smash up Mileena's apartment and read the byline. A faint smile crossed his lips as he saw the name printed; Lois Lane. He had to admit, he was proud of his friend and all she had accomplished since becoming a journalist. In the span of a year she had gone from sleazy tabloid trash for the Metropolis Inquisitor to the bullpen of The Daily Planet and doing rather well at it from all accounts.

At times he had to wonder if it had made Chloe jealous to see her cousin do so well at something that since childhood had been her whole world but in the wake of Lex Luthor commandeering he paper, Chloe's interest in journalism had waned considerably. It was almost as if she had realised that it was the search for truth and not necessarily its publication that was important to her and then she had disappeared, taken by Lex's men and hidden in some facility god knows where.

The sobering thought of what Luthor and his scientists were doing to Chloe sank in and his heart broke for her. He wanted to help her but aside from not knowing where she was and not having a clue where to look, he wasn't even sure at this point that he could get to her. The apparent stiffness of his body when he awoke had alerted him to the fact that something wasn't quite right.

It was then that he gave some serious thought to his powers or rather his lack of them. Emptying the cup of coffee he focused his energy and gripped the porcelain tightly, squeezing it to see if it would break. When nothing happened he concentrated on burning it with his heat vision. Had _this_ been punishment from Jor-El for allowing someone like Lex Luthor into the Fortress?

Chloe Sullivan awoke in a familiar position but one that she hadn't remembered fondly. She glanced around at the medical equipment around the room, her hear beginning to race with panic. The last thing she had remembered was Jimmy's sweet but entirely awkward proposal at The Talon and being arrested by people that for all she knew were from the Department of Domestic Security. She had to get out but without Clark around to save her she didn't see any possible way for that to happen. It was then she heard a voice within her mind provide some kind of comfort. 'I can help you but I need your help in return.'

'Who are you?' She asked aloud despite the voice being in her head.

'You know who I am. If you will not help me willingly, I am going to make you. Don't make this harder than it has to be.' Chloe nodded in defeat. If this was the only way she was going to get out then so be it, she only hoped she was making the right choice.

Chloe's eyes drifted closed then reopened seconds later with a now silvery glow. She glanced down at the straps holding her arms in place and focusing all her strength on them she pulled her arms up, freeing herself from the table. She put on a set of scrubs she found while rifling through one of the cupboards and approached the door. As soon as she touched the handle the electronic lock unlocked and despite her better judgement she opened it.

At the end of the hall she spied two guards carrying heavy weaponry and instead of cowering fearfully, she walked right up to them, impaling both on spikes that came out of her fingers. Something wasn't right here. She had passed out from the Brain InterActive Construct's assault on her at The Isis Foundation and aside from ending up in the hospital she had thought nothing of it, assuming that it had been her ability to heal that had saved her. She hadn't counted on the AI wanting to merge with her but that was what was happening now and she wasn't sure, in the midst of being held captive, that she wanted it to stop.

She made her way through the facility, stopping every obstacle that got in her way, finding that she enjoyed the thrill of the kill the more she did it. When she reached the control room Chloe placed her hands on a panel in the wall, an electro-magnetic pulse flowing from her and into the machinery. Sparks flew and lights throughout the facility went out as anything in the building that operated on electricity ceased to work.

Chloe left the control room and took on every guard that came rushing at her before walking out the front door as if nothing had happened and taking off into the night sky...


	4. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

The doppelgänger searched through each makeshift hut for at the very least, pants, destroying what meagre possessions the Tarkatan hordes when he found nothing. There had to be someone, somewhere with a similar build to him. It was then he remembered the wall he had rested against as he pulled himself back together and left the last hovel.

He focused his vision on the wall as it began to fall away and reveal to him the citadel behind it. The bazaar appeared to hum with people going about their daily business and while he considered flying over it he figured that given his current predicament it might have been more conspicuous to do so. He sought a path through the citadel, finding on behind the the stalls of the bazaar and leapt over the wall.

He sped past the stalls toward the large palace, racing through the halls absent-mindedly before stopping at what appeared to be a man's bedroom. He shut the door behind himself and scanned the room for a wardrobe when his eyes fell to a large wooden chest at the foot of the bed. Crushing the padlock keeping its contents safe the doppelgänger flipped open the lid and rummaged through it, pulling out a white tunic with a red trim and a pair of black pants.

He closed the chest then proceeded to try the clothes on, surprised by how comfortable they were in comparison to the Boy Scout's uniform of jeans and a t-shirt. His relief, however, had been short lived as he felt the tip of a blade against the back of his neck.

'Please.' He attempted to reason with the person he assumed was attached to it. 'I just needed some clothes...' Before he could finish he was spun around and lifted high into the air coming face to face with the apparent owner of his newly commandeered clothes. Through his almost comically long fangs the man exclaimed. 'Stealing an officer's personal effects is a capital offence, Edenian.'

'I...'

'It matters not. We'll see how you fare in the emperor's arena tomorrow morning.' The man interrupted before dragging him all the way to the dungeons.

She had been following him for weeks now, the assassin known to many in the circles she travelled in as Deathstroke the Terminator. While no one ever really seemed to know anything about him, the one thing that always came up in her research was his time with the military where he was a Colonel by the name of Slade Wilson. He was a decorated officer with countless confirmed kills under his belt but something had happened that made him choose the lowly work of a mercenary.

Mileena hated mercenaries and in all the centuries she had lived she had seen more than her fair share. She noted that while assassins, regardless of ideology, believed in something a mercenary would kill their own mother if they were paid enough and it made her sick to her stomach. These days to think on her life as an assassin and the darkness it brought her also made her a little nauseous.

It had never been her goal to become an assassin. She had led her realm's army into battle as their general and even as Edenia fell to the tyrannical emperor she fought to save it but it all changed after her mother and father died. Shao Kahn had forced Mileena and her older twin into servitude as his personal assassins, even using his dark magic to erase her sister's memories but she had been stronger.

She hadn't known if it was the years she spent at the head of her father's army or if there was just something inside her that made her more willing to fight but she had escaped. It was after a failed attempt on the emperor's life that she had been captured and sent away never to be thought of again. In the millennia that passed she thought on those she had killed on Shao Kahn's command and only hoped her current position and the _light_ that was now in her life would make up for it all.

Deathstroke dangled the man whose ankle he held off the edge of the building, seemingly oblivious to his screams for mercy. Periodically he would pull the man up and question him some more and she decided that this would be the time to make her move. Until then she focused him to see what she could glean from his thoughts. There had to be something she could use.

Suddenly shaking her from her digging a voice filled her head. It was raspy and deep and not at all foreign to her although a month ago she might have wondered how it could be possible being that only she had that particular gift. But she had been working on something that would make communication between them impossible to detect. With the help of both Queen Industries and Wayne Enterprises' WayneTech she had created a device that allowed people to communicate via telepathy and this had been the first field test.

_Are you in position?_ The voice asked internally. Mileena nodded and glancing through her binoculars once more she replied. _Just waiting for the right moment. I'd prefer not to have any loss of life here and I know that's what will happen if I strike too soon._ She heard a small laugh escape his thoughts and smiled. Despite the air of fear and mystery he projected on the criminals of Gotham City he really wasn't all that threatening. _Just remember that if he falls there's someone to catch him_. The voice reminded her.

She turned her head, waving to the dark, caped figure on the roof across the street. For someone who wasn't a team player, he certainly had everyone's back when they needed him. And he wasn't the only one. Mileena hadn't been a part of their team she had seen nothing more than a ragtag group of misfits that not only seemed to clash in terms of how they went about things but also as people. It had been a virtual melting pot of the "special" and the ordinary and she found she had purpose for the first time in a very long time.

_You know, you should tell everyone else where he is._ Another voice chided. Mileena sighed exasperatedly and replied. _Now is really not the time Oliver._ _Besides, maybe he needs it so he can fulfil his destiny. _She might have been right but something still felt a little off about it all. At the very least he had a right to say goodbye to his loved ones. _Maybe you're right but all they've done so far is hold him back. You've seen it yourself. While he's around them he can't see the bigger picture._

_At least let his mother see him. _She shut her eyes and attempted to block out the voice in her head despite how right he was. She stopped for a moment then opening up the line of communication again she thought. _I'll let him decide. You can't argue with me on that. Now, can we please get to the business at hand. The target is ready, time to make my move._

Mileena stepped back to give herself enough running distance before speeding up to the ledge and clearing it, landing on the adjacent rooftop with a roll. She pulled herself off the tar coating the roof and made her presence known as a distraction. 'Slade Wilson, I would have thought that corporate thuggery was above...' She paused for a moment then with a sigh she continued. 'My mistake, I thought you were a decorated officer of the military but I see now that you're not much more than a whore who is willing to sell himself to the highest bidder.'

Slade let go of his intended victim and stalked towards her, a handgun pointed in her face. 'You have five seconds to tell me who you are or I swear I'll splatter your brain all over this rooftop.'

'Someone like you who served their country and was betrayed.' She replied in a _bizarre_ parody of fear. Why, if she had clearly been in control was she so frightened. The figure on the rooftop aimed his grappling gun at a nearby point only to be stopped._ Bruce, she's been doing this since before either of us were even born. She probably knows more about strategy than you will ever learn. Trust her._

He held back but continued to watch the scene play out before him. 'I know how it feels to believe in something and have it all taken away but this... this is wrong and you know it.' Was she trying to talk him down? It was as if she were on some kind of suicide mission, or wanted to put the operation in jeopardy on purpose. He'd had enough, and then he saw it.

Deathstroke moved in closer and at an alarming speed she grabbed his arm and forced him to the tar, resting her knee on his spine as she removed the clip from his gun._ Got him. I'll see you two back at Watchtower._ And with that she disappeared with the masked assassin in a swirl of energy.

Bruce had been wrong about Mileena but then he had often been proven wrong by this team. As much as he hated to admit it, he'd spent too much time with Gotham's criminal underbelly as The Batman and that distrust in a person's capacity for good had begun to infect his way of thinking. After all, she had helped to create something that was not only revolutionary in its design but had the ability to help them. She also hadn't taken this new piece of technology to Lex Luthor so he could exploit it... Mileena was one of _them_.

He paced back and forth inside his cell while he examined every possible way out. of all the things in life that he was sure he hated, being locked up was one of them. It only made him more mad at the _Boy Scout_. _He'd_ been able to live his life as a free man while the doppelgänger had spent the better part of its life either being subjected to horrific experiments or trapped in the Phantom Zone. The less time he had to spend in some jail who knows where, the better.

Given his current situation, he was almost certain that just ripping off the door and walking out wasn't an option. The windows were too small to escape from so they were out. He even considered his first thought once more only involving the deaths of anyone who got in his way. There had to be a way out of this. He continued his frantic pacing as he ran through every possible scenario in his mind then suddenly he heard footsteps off in the distance and a female voice barking orders.

The guards that were standing at the door of his cell filed out only to be replaced by a tall, athletic looking woman wearing an outfit that left almost nothing to the imagination. His eyes ran appreciatively over her shapely tanned hips to her impossibly perky breasts. He marvelled at how they managed to stay inside her top considering the cut of it and how big they were and hoped that they might fall out. He continued eyeing the strange woman standing in front of his cell, his eyes falling on the pink veil covering the lower half of her face.

He could tell from her eyes that she was one of them. Like the other Tarkatans her eyes were a deep yellow with only a sliver of a pupil but somehow it didn't matter because despite this she was somehow different to them. He skin looked softer and she wasn't covered in the same bony spikes that he had seen on the others. She was perfect except for that one minor detail and he assumed that the veil was in place to hide it.

With a contemptuous smirk he attempted to see through the veil, his breath hitching as he saw her disfigured mouth. He had expected a mouth full of fangs but instead he found severely scarred and swollen lips that had looked like she'd been kissing a meat grinder. Their were fresh bruises and other stages of healing and he wondered who could have done something like that to her.

Suddenly he thought of Lana. If she could have used blue kryptonite on him to kill him then surely it wasn't above anyone to maul some woman to the point of mangling her face. He instantly felt a kinship with the woman but certainly not enough to be above using her or even killing her if it secured his freedom. She leaned against the bars of his cell, wrapping her fingers around the cold steel and stating. 'You aren't the Edenian the General spoke of although I see why he might be confused. You look just like him.'

'Edenian?' The doppelgänger asked, raising an eyebrow. Save the shorter hair he was a dead ringer for the Edenian prince who had once stolen her counterpart's heart and now served as an occasional lover her when he craved _her_. Red had never been _his_ colour, although on this man it worked. 'I saw you beyond the citadel walls. You could break out of here and yet you haven't. Are you that keen to die?' He started at her with a _bizarre_ mix of confusion and arousal. No one had ever been so forceful with him and he found that despite his mental protestation, his body had responded to it. He could see from her raised eyebrow that it wasn't entirely lost on her either and he smirked when she gave an impressed groan.

'I didn't want to call attention to myself.' He answered finally through ragged breaths. He felt her smile through the veil and approached the bars keeping them apart. He placed his hand over hers and felt her waver a little. 'Who are you?' She asked. He thought about it for a moment and realised that he hadn't really known who he was. The Boy Scout and his "policeman" friend had only referred to him as "Phantom" and wanting him to be someone else Lana had called him Clark but that wasn't who he was either.

He went back through his shared memories, smiling at the remembrance of Clark's red kryptonite fuelled bender in Metropolis. It had been the one time that the two had been truly alike and it was then that he found his name. He returned his attention to the stranger and replied. 'Kal... My name is Kal.' Kal could see from the look in her eyes that she understood him in a way that no one else could.

She slid her hand out of Kal's and disappeared into the floor, reappearing behind him. He turned around and watched her while she began to move back towards the cot. 'How do you know I won't try to kill you?' Kal asked, enthralled by her overt sexuality. He felt her smile again and as she opened the button on her top she said. 'Because I am your only way out of here.'

That was enough for him, in a flash Kal had her against a wall and assaulted her neck with kisses then nipping at her earlobe. 'I have to at least know your name.'

'Why does it matter?' She groaned, struggling to get closer to him as he reached for her breast. With a playful nip at her earlobe he whispered before leaning back to take in his handy work. 'Because I need to know what to scream while I'm fucking you.' Suddenly Mileena's hands were at the stolen tunic and as she pulled it open she slid her hands up his chest. he was gorgeous, that she couldn't deny and harder than any other man she had been with.

She had always worried in her dalliances with the Edenian whom he so resembled that if she lost control and bit him that he might bleed to death but he was so different and at the same time he looked just like him. She stared at his bare chest thinking of what she might do to it then as Kal cleared his throat her eyes snapped back to his and she replied. 'Oh... Mileena.'

Kal smiled his lopsided smile once more and lifted his hand to Mileena's veil. As he went to pull down the offending fabric to kiss her she slapped him across the face and pushed him away. 'You want me... The veil stays other wise I'm gone and I won't hesitate to kill you tomorrow.' Had he just heard her right. She was in his cell with him and she had let him maul her despite what he knew was hidden behind her swollen lips and yet she was to be his executioner? What kind of _backwards_ _world_ had he stepped into?

He pinned her to the door and hooked her hands around the bars above her head while he buried his face in Mileena's ample chest then lifting his head to look at her he assured her. 'I don't care about what's underneath. I want to see all of you.' Kal lifted his hand to remove her mask once more only this time she didn't fight him. He carefully took the veil from her and with his thumb on her bottom lip he examined her fangs... This he could work with.

Mileena's heart began to race when he didn't recoil from her in horror but replaced his thumb with his lips. She wanted desperately to bury her hands in his hair while he kissed her softly. No one had ever been so tender with her and it was a little starling at first. She ran through all her past conquests in her head as his tongue cautiously slid past her lips, making a mental note of each.

Baraka had always been forceful with her in a way that she could never bring herself to enjoy. It had always been about dominance and showing her who was boss. His kisses, if she could call them that were always rough and usually left her covered in her own blood in the end. Rain barely even looked at her while he did his thing and in a way she pitied the princess if this was how he was when they "made love". He was gentle enough but she always wondered if he would sob for his beloved half way through and it was never about her.

If anything had been made clear to her about the two of them, it was that sex was almost never about her. But here was someone who appeared to be loving and attentive, even if it were inevitably for his own ends. It wasn't like she hadn't got the ball rolling for the same reason. She needed him. She had seen what he was able to do and he would be invaluable to her bid for the throne when the time came.

Clark had spent hours pouring over the article in front of him like he had every day since he awoke from his coma, staring into the eyes of the man who had once been his friend while he erased such a huge chapter of his life. This was all his fault, he just knew it but then he felt in the past 7 years that everything had been his fault. If it weren't for him Lana's parents wouldn't have died and it wouldn't have been so hard for him to tell her the truth. Were it not for his rejection of Lex, he might still have been a man worthy of his friendship. had he not traded Lana's life, his father would still be around.

His heart still hurt when he thought about her but in the time since he had found out about her and his clone, Clark had begun realise a few things that he had been denying almost all his life. He might have loved her in his way but anything he had felt was marred by years of deceit on both sides and a general mistrust that coloured everything between them. He realised that in the time he had been living in Mileena's apartment recuperating he didn't have to hide or hold his breath out of fear. Everything with Mileena felt normal.

Clark got up from his stool to refresh his cup of coffee when Mileena teleported into the living room, returning the sais on her back to a spot on the wall in the living room. As she turned to leave the room, Clark turned to look at his nurse maid, almost dropping the cup in his hand as he saw her dressed literally from head to toe in black leather and dark purple latex. He'd never been one to cast aspersions on people, after all, being from a different planet tended to make one a little more open minded but this was different from anything he was used to.

He couldn't deny though that she looked beautiful, even if she might have been a dominatrix but that simple idea made him concerned, jealous even and he didn't know why. As she untied the laces keeping her custom made mask in place Mileena smiled at him and joked, having been amused by his theory. 'Are you hoping I might tie you up and give you a spanking?' Before he could stop it the cup fell from his hand, spilling its contents all over the floor. He started to panic and tried to apologise when Mileena joined him in the kitchen and helped him clean the mess.

Clark helped Mileena up off the floor once they had finished, the two of them sharing a moment of silence that while it seemed awkward had also been completely comfortable to them. They were so close to each other the tension had been almost unbearable and Mileena couldn't help but blush as images flashed through her mind from Clark's of him picking her up and having his way with her on the kitchen counter.

Cautiously Clark moved in closer to Mileena then just as he was about to kiss her she pretended to clear her throat and motioned to the newspaper on the counter. 'You want to talk about it?' She asked, painfully aware of how close he was and what they both wanted. Clark shook himself from his thoughts and looked down at the paper before replying. 'I just feel like everything that has happened with Lex, Lana, my parents; all of it is my fault.'

'Did you tell Lex to kill his father?' She asked matter-of-factly as she pried herself from him. Clark shook his head and Mileena asked, continuing to make him see sense. 'Did you make Lana do all those things she did like stealing from Lex and cheating on you?'

'If I had been more open she...'

'She still would have cheated Kal-El. I don't know everything but I know what I saw in your mind. If you couldn't trust her and were I in your position, I certainly wouldn't have, then it never would have worked. Seeing the good in people certainly doesn't make the world's perils your fault and you need to realise that.' She paused for a moment and with a sigh she said. 'I'm going to change into something less cumbersome and then there is something I want you to see.'

Clark left the kitchen and approached the wall of Mileena's living room that held an array of weapons. All of them looked old but well cared for and then at the centre he noticed something he could have sworn he'd seen before; a longsword with an elaborately carved silver handle and a purple jewel at the centre of the hilt. Clark removed the familiar looking sword that took its pride of place on Mileena's living room wall and carefully began to unsheathe it, his eyes following the obscure symbols that ran down the middle of the silvery blade.

In the days since he had woken up, Clark and Mileena had spent countless hours discussing everything under the Earth's yellow sun. They spoke at length about Clark's abilities and the effect kryptonite had on him and Mileena's time with the Edenian army. He had felt that he had come to know her on a personal level that he was sure that not many had but it was this sword and the feeling that he had recognised it from somewhere that caught his attention the most.

He knew this sword but he didn't know where from or how and then it dawned on him... The temple in China where the stone that contributed to the creation of his Fortress of Solitude had been hidden. He remembered Lana coming at him with it after piercing his chest with a sai. That sai had been all that protected him from losing his head that day. In that moment of epiphany, Clark's heart sank. The sword and the sai... they had been identical and when he touched the former, memories came flooding back to him.

Clark had wondered that day if there had been someone watching out for him and now he knew. Before he could find the right words, Mileena gently slipped the antique weapon from his hands, both of them blushing as they gently brushed across his. Not looking up at him, Mileena said. 'You should be careful with this Kal-El, this sword is older than _I_ am.'

'My name is Clark... Not Kal-El.' Clark replied, slightly offended for the first time since she had first called him by his true name. With a furtive smile she led him to the couch and asked. 'Why do you deny who you are? You bristle whenever I call you by your name, why?'

'Because that name has brought me and everyone else nothing but pain and suffering.' He answered succinctly. She could see the pain in his eyes but there had to be more to it. She sighed then asked as she sat down beside him. 'Isn't pain a part of life Kal...' She paused mid-sentence to correct herself. 'Sorry, Clark?'

'But you don't understand.'

'I understand more than you might think. I'm actually glad you felt drawn to this because I wanted to show you something.' With that she pulled the sword from its scabbard and held it for him to see clearly. 'My father gave me this sword the day I became a General in his armies just like his father and his father before that. I don't think I had ever seen my parents so proud of me as they were that day. My sister was to lead Edenia into a new era of peace and I was to be her aide in this.

And then Shao Kahn and his hordes invaded. I hadn't calculated just how many there would be so there weren't enough soldiers to fight them off. I saw everyone I loved die or be forced into slavery because of my bad judgement. I was sent here because of the mistake I made in trying to rectify the situation. Had it not been for my incompetence, no one would have to of died.' Clark meditated on Mileena's words, reliving her memories as if they were his own then staring up at her he said. 'But that wasn't your fault. You can't have known that that would happen.'

'Just like you could have known who Lex Luthor would turn out to be or that your homeworld would cause the death of Lana's parents. Whether you had been there or not that still would have happened, am I right?' Clark nodded then with a reassuring smile Mileena replied, her hand resting on his arm. 'Then don't beat yourself up about it. You aren't a god Clark and no one is expecting you to be. You have so much potential and you waste it on what might have been.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' Clark asked, suddenly incensed.

'You deny your Kryptonian heritage because you feel like it has hurt everyone. You let yourself stay in a doomed relationship with a woman who not only emasculated you but wanted you to be someone you aren't. She demanded things from you that she wasn't willing to give in return and for what? your undying allegiance to her? You blame yourself for your father's death but he didn't have to let his rage rule him that night. Every man is responsible for their own _destiny_ Clark and it's time you saw that...'

Before she could continue, Clark's hands flew to her face as he kissed her more passionately than he had ever kissed anyone. As angry as he had been as she began to speak, he knew she was right and suddenly everything had become clear.

Mileena glanced down at her sleeping companion as he laid beside her on the cot, her insides still throbbed form the activities of the previous night's activities but it only made her smile. She had lost count of how many times that night he had brought her over the edge and almost made her lose all grasp on what little sanity she had left. There was still a slight pang of guilt at the thought of using him like she had but this way he would help her willingly instead of being threatened with death.

She glanced around at all the clothes that had been strewn across the cell floor and giggled hoarsely, accidentally waking Kal from his sleep. As he saw her naked breasts still standing at attention despite not being held up by anything he let out an appreciative sigh. She had an amazing body, even though her face was what most would consider ugly but in that night he had seen so many sides to her that none of the other stuff mattered.

Barely able to wipe the smile from his face as he sat up, Kal blazed a trail of soft kisses along Mileena's shoulder until his lips met hers then with a groan as he ran his fingertips down her spine he said with a rasp that vibrated through Mileena's entire body. 'Mmmm. Last night was amazing.' She grinned that horrible grin as he broke off the kiss and nipped at his bottom lip then as she reached for her veil she replied. 'No man has ever done anything like that to me before. Even if you were using me, thank you.'

'You're welcome. I'm glad you were able to keep up with me.' He replied as he rested his forehead on hers. As much as he hated to admit it, this was very quickly becoming more than some selfish one night stand to get out of prison and whatever he faced in the arena later that day. She had opened him up in ways that Lana never had and yet there was still that lingering thought of his former love that left a bad taste in his mouth.

Kal kissed Mileena again and groaned when she bit his tongue just hard enough to draw blood but not hard enough to actually do any damage. Both of them moaned at the taste of blood filling their mouths with Kal pulling the rambunctious hybrid onto his lap. Slowly she pulled back and licked the trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth before growling softly in his ear. 'Tasty.' Before they could go too far she lifted herself off of him and began to put her clothes back on, asking as she covered her face with her veil. 'So will you still take a _fall for me_?' He sighed at the last part of her question and as she threw his ill gotten pants at him he said, taking the bait. 'I would have thought that was made pretty clear last night.'

'I mean in the arena.' She clarified while trying to hide the blush that turned her normally tanned face a deep russet colour. 'I know.' He answered ambiguously as he got up from the cot and slid his arms around Mileena's waist. 'I just wanted to see that you were listening.' He took up his earlier assault on her neck and answered more seriously. 'I want to help you and if taking a fall means I can still be alive to do that then I will. I just wish we had more time.'

'I know.' Mileena said, lifting her veil to give him one last kiss before teleporting away.

'Now, remember what we discussed.' Mileena said, making sure that Kal didn't forget when to take a hit and when to hit her back as the elevator lifted them into Shao Kahn's arena. Already they could hear the crowd baying for blood and with a quick squeeze of his hand, Kal knew that everything would be alright. 'Just as long as we can have more of what we had last night...'

'You do what we talked about and I'm all yours.' She replied as she got into a fighting stance. Nervously Kal did the same and they waited as the emperor's voice boomed across the arena. "Round 1. FIGHT"

Mileena and Kal stalked each other as they silently agreed upon who would strike first then lunging at her, Kal through a punch that she caught and returned with a kick to the face that sent him toppling over. As he regained his balance, he smirked evilly at her and charged only for her to teleport behind him with a kick to the chest. This time she bounced off him only to curl into a ball and roll at him. As she came back up against him, Kal threw Mileena towards the the pit of spikes and she tumbled into an upright position.

He worried for a minute that she might change the game with the force of his throw only to be comforted by a short wink as she ran at him with alarming speed, throwing a punch which he blocked and countered to which she did the same. It had become a dance between them. She would strike and he would either dodge or counter just as he would, the two of them switching between their various abilities just to keep up. It was a form of foreplay for them which everyone in the stands and even the emperor himself seemed oblivious to.

As the two of them got close, Kal would whisper in her ear about the things he planned to do to her when they got away from the crowd while she explained to him in detail how he made her feel. He took the last punch and fell to the dirt, Shao Kahn declaring Mileena the victor before Kal got up and they repeated their efforts. Just as he had promised, Kal feigned wooziness and the emperor ordered as he pointed towards him. 'FINISH HIM.' Mileena ripped her veil from her face to give the crowd a cheap thrill then raced at Kal, biting hard into his neck and pretending to tear out a chunk of flesh. 'Mileena wins... Fatality.' The emperor called before waving the coffin makers in to cart Kal's motionless body away.

At the same time Mileena teleported to a point below the arena that she had seen many other bodies being carried and waited for them to come past her. It wasn't long until she saw them and as they got closer she attacked, stabbing one in the back with a sai and biting clean through the neck of the other. Kal pulled the sheet from himself once he was satisfied that the two men were dead and smirked at his new paramour, strangely aroused by the sight of her covered in blood. Mileena held out her hand for him and pulled him up into a deeply passionate kiss as she teleported away with him.


	5. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

_ ... The rage had spread and now infected every living soul of both worlds. While some tried to grasp just what was occurring as the two sides hurtled towards each other, others revelled in the new found power it gave them. Enemies on each side had banded together to stop the invasion of the other side, all unaware of who or what had started it all. An endless crack of pure energy was all that managed to keep the two worlds apart and yet at the centre of it all were two that had been seemingly untouched by the rage that taken over everyone else._

_ While both sides rallied to tear each other apart these two fought to fuse together. The majestic crimson cape that held him in his own world as a sort of anchor enveloped them both as if to protect them from the pain the other's experienced as they fought..._

With a sharp gasp, Mileena awoke in the same manner she had the last time she had experienced one of these dreams only this time she had been sitting in her bathtub. It seemed that water acted as a clearer conduit for whatever it was that had been sending her the visions. Her eyes flitted about the bathroom as she tried to regain her bearings when suddenly she was brought back to the world by a pounding at the bathroom door. 'Mileena?' A concerned voice called to her on the other side. 'Is everything alright?'

She scrambled to find a towel and noticed a trickle of blood coming from her nose as she attempted poorly to reassure him. 'Uh... I'm fine... Just a _bad dream_.' She got out of the now frigid water and shivering, she wrapped one of her towels around herself before staggering to the door. 'You know it's not good to fall asleep in the bath...' Clark said as she opened the door a crack and peeked out at him. 'You could have drowned.'

'I've been through worse.' Mileena said through a nervous smile. Carefully she pulled the door back and slunk past him as she headed for her room to get dressed.

It had been two weeks since he kissed her in the living room after she had basically attacked him for turning his back on his Kryptonian heritage and everything that went with it. Mileena had expected him to return to his home in Smallville soon after but to her surprise, he stayed. Since then it had become awkward between them. Mileena barely spoke and for the most part threw herself into her work with Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen's team.

Similarly Clark had thrown himself into trying to regain his abilities. So far all that had returned to him were his strength and speed but when he thought of Mileena he could have sworn he felt the beginnings of his heat vision returning. Even if the sudden distance had confused him, at least it gave him time to think about where he was headed without the added stress of other people's opinions. He had to do something for himself for once instead of hiding behind a misguided need for normality.

Mileena emerged from her bedroom moments later and gave him a furtive smile as he stared at her. Had Clark been waiting outside the bathroom all this time? He opened the door to the bathroom and smiled back at her sheepishly, cursing himself internally while she made her way to the living room. The least he could have done was apologise for the kiss. Not that he was sorry but he could see how confused she had been by it and how obviously uncomfortable it made her to be around him.

Maybe it was time. Mileena had made it clear to him but the way she acted that just being around him was too difficult for her so maybe it was a sign that he needed to get his affairs in order and begin his training. He thought about what might happen after and if she would forget him and surmised that it probably didn't matter since she had most likely been scared off by his sudden display of affection.

There was still the matter of his abilities, which, for the most part were still sorely lacking. Would Jor-El accept a powerless son after he had left someone like Lex Luthor to destroy the Fortress? There were so many questions that were still unanswered that he suddenly didn't have time to ponder the feelings of his nursemaid-cum-flatmate.

Clark's mind ticked over as the water from the shower ran down his back. How could he even begin his training if there was no Fortress of Solitude to train in? Would he have to put up with the Kawatche Caves? There was no guarantee that he could even rebuild it let alone that the essence that had once been tainted by Brainiac would be cured of its infliction. There were so many unknowns that he began to wonder if taking such a huge step was even worth it.

It was then that he heard a voice inside him say. _Something that is easy is rarely, if ever, worth undertaking Kal-El_. The tone had sounded alarmingly similar to the few glimpses of a benevolent Jor-El Clark had experienced and yet it was feminine. 'Lara?' He asked aloud, focusing his vision on the fogged up shower door and allowing it to fall away. He scanned the room but saw nothing and settled on the assumption that it was all in his head.

He turned the shower off and reached for a towel, wrapping it around his waist while that one sentence repeated itself in his head over and over. He took a breath and left the bathroom to find Mileena had left him a note as she normally did only this time attached to a small pentagonal crystal. 'I've been keeping this safe for when you might need it. I'm sorry I'm not there to give it to you in person but if I stay then you won't go. Goodbye Kal-El... M.' Clark's heart sank. While he wasn't all that surprised that she knew what he was thinking, it hurt him to see that she was keeping herself away out of a sense of duty.

Clark dressed quickly and for almost an hour held the crystal that had once formed his Fortress in his hands. Unlike before this one had not been tainted by the blood of a human and _she_ had protected it for him. He wanted to be angry at her for hiding it but for the most part he understood. He had to heal first and she had given him time to do so.

He paced what had become his bedroom and considered whether to honour her wishes or to stay just long enough to say a proper goodbye but as much as it pained him, she had been right about that too. One look at her and he would have given up everything, he couldn't help himself and it was just easier to not see her, or anyone else for that matter.

Two hours had passed since his epiphany and in that time Clark packed anything he might need into a suitcase Mileena had kindly set aside for him and written letters to everyone in his life who meant something to him. So many times as he wrote he choked back the tears that threatened to fall, comforted only by the fact that he was doing it for the greater good. He fabricated some story for Lois about how he decided that he needed to find himself and that Smallville wasn't the place for it.

To his mother he wrote about how he planned to sell the back 40 paddocks of the farm to their neighbour Ben Hubbard and ask him to watch in on Shelby while he was gone. He explained at length that now, with nothing holding him back, it was time to fulfil his destiny. He wrote something similar to Chloe despite not knowing where she was or if she would even read it. He wrote a smaller note to Oliver, one that was far less personal than the others but stating that if there was still a place on his team when his training was done, he was only too willing to join the Emerald Archer's cause.

Finally he wrote to Mileena, which had been the hardest of all of them. He thanked her for giving him the slap in the face he needed and for rescuing him, not only in the Arctic but all that time ago in China. He charged her with getting each letter to its recipient and finally confessed all the things he hadn't been able to say around her. With a kiss for luck on the envelope of the last letter Clark placed them all on the shiny granite of the kitchenette counter and picked up his suitcase before speeding out the door.

Lex Luthor strolled down the long celled corridors of the maximum security wing at _Stryker's_ _Island_, occasionally glancing down at the small piece of paper in his hand. All the while Metropolis' more dangerous criminals leered at him as they shouted obscenities at him. For a moment it reminded him of his freaks gallery in the days when his father's empire had still been known as "LuthorCorp". While the experimentation on those with paranormal abilities continued, everything else that had been tied to the memory of his late father had been removed.

Now was the age of LexCorp...

But there was still something that tied him to his old life and if he couldn't have that, he would at least have the one who had taken it away from him. She was an interesting specimen for what little he saw of her that day as she vanished in a swirl of tiny purple lights. Like every other woman in his life she was beautiful and despite their obvious connection, he still longed to have her on his operating table. Teleportation would be an invaluable ability for his soldiers and the man he sought would help him get it whether he liked it or not.

Lex finally reached the cell he had been looking for and stopped to stare at the man doing push ups one handed. Waves of silver hair fell about his war ravaged face and as he looked up at the billionaire tycoon Lex's attention was brought to the patch covering his right eye. 'Slade... Keeping busy I see.'

'The facilities in here are pathetic. This is all I have to keep myself sharp.' He replied as he stood up and wiped the sweat from his face. 'Then you might enjoy what I'm proposing. What if I gave you all the intel you needed and a shot at the woman who put you here?' Lex asked in an attempt to get the assassin's attention.

Slade smirked as he remembered the last time they fought. He hadn't known if it were because she was a woman or because she appealed to the part of him that was sill mad at the country he served for betraying him but she had blind-sided him. It wouldn't happen again. He turned to face his sporadic employer and replied, hanging the towel over his neck and squeezing it in a way that had Lex feeling a little uneasy.

'Alright Luthor, I'm listening.' Lex held up a briefcase and with a self assured smile he said. 'But first, a little going away present.' He placed the case in the plate glass lazy susan and spun it around then turned his back while Slade inspected the contents. 'And my weapons?'

'After your release. I might need your help but you're still a dangerous criminal Slade... So, do we have a deal?' Wilson dug past his beloved disguise and found groups of bank notes that he had to guess added to at least $50,000. He smirked and closed the case, returning it to its "owner" and replying. 'And the rest?'

'Wired to your account when the job is done. I don't want her dead, only apprehended.'

'I believe we have a deal Mr. Luthor.' Both men smiled in agreement then Lex motioned for the guard to release Slade from his cell.

Mileena stood against the ledge of her rooftop garden, a cup of tea in her hands as she stared up at the stars. Had she done the right thing in pushing him away. She looked down at her cup and watched the swirl of leaves beneath the steaming greenish-brown liquid. It had hurt her to be so cold to him but he needed it. It was the only thing he would listen to but she still couldn't help but think on what might have been.

'Care for a cup... Detective?' She asked as she sensed a presence behind her. A pair of glowing red eyes stared at her from the darkness as a wise voice answered her inner thoughts. _You did the right thing, highness. Others in your position might not have been as strong as you._ Mileena turned around as the man watching her from the dark revealed himself. 'I don't feel strong. I feel lost.' She lamented as he joined her. She poured some tea from the small oriental teapot on the tray beside her into a cup and handed it to her guest carefully and as he took a sip he assured her. 'Kal-El would not have taken his path had you not pushed him in the right direction. It may hurt you to let him go but you know, deep down that it's what he needs right now.'

'That doesn't mean I can't worry.' She replied as she finished her tea. J'onn smiled sympathetically and again tried to reassure her. 'He'll be safe where he is. All we can do in the meantime is make sure that everything is in place for his return.' Mileena nodded and went back to watching the stars then all of a sudden she was reminded of her visions. 'You sent them, didn't you? The visions I mean.'

'Something terrible is coming, something I'm afraid that you know all too well.'

'The emperor.' She replied without needing to think. 'Do you really think it will happen?'

'I'm only passing on what was shown to me. I don't know what the outcome will be.'

'J'onn, if the emperor and this other entity were to merge, it could be the end of everything in both worlds. I'm not sure I want to go home but I'd at least like to have a home to go to.'...

Clark stopped once he reached a clear area of snow that appeared to stretch out for miles and miles and glanced down at his crystal. Despite the squinting to keep the sun out, it was what made him feel powerful. It was as if every cell in his body vibrated with energy then he tossed the crystal like he had once before. It flew through the air before him then descended into the ice, the ground below him beginning to shake.

Before his eyes enormous shards of crystal ascended from the snow, crossing each other until there stood a shimmering bastion of Kryptonian civilisation. Cautiously Clark entered through the snow capped entrance past a statue of his birth parents that looked to be carved out of ice, and yet to the touch it was strangely warm. While most things he remembered from the first fortress, this one had been more elaborate, as if he was now getting the whole picture of what his father had wanted for him.

Astonished by the sheer size of it all Clark's eyes roamed around this new, improved Fortress of Solitude, marvelling at its comparative grandeur when suddenly a loud voice shook him from his thoughts. It was a familiar voice, although any menace it once possessed was now gone. 'Welcome home, my son.'...


End file.
